


Save Me

by miss_murder



Category: Original Work
Genre: F/M, Homelessness, Kissing at Midnight, Runaway, taking care of wounds
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-19
Updated: 2014-12-19
Packaged: 2018-03-02 07:04:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,163
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2803826
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/miss_murder/pseuds/miss_murder
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Original work. Holt seeks help from Kaiah after getting hurt.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Save Me

An owl cooed through the night. The room was as dark as midnight would allow. I wouldn’t have noticed any of this if not for the frantic yet soft rapping on my second-story window. My eyes fluttered open and zeroed in on a dark, crouched figure on the roof. I drew in a sharp breath and nearly screamed, bolting upright in bed and gazing at the night with wild, frantic eyes. The figure was holding its shoulder and panting.

 _Holt_.

I threw back the covers and slid open the window, ushering my oldest and dearest friend inside and flicking on a lamp as I passed. I shouldn’t have, though.

Holt was pale and dirty, covered in bruises and still-healing scars that I recognized from the last time I saw him more than a week ago. The left shoulder of his jacket and shirt underneath were in shreds and blood dripped from between his fingers. I had to chomp down on my tongue to keep from swearing.

Without a word, I led him to my small private bathroom and set him on the edge of the tub. I plugged the sink and filled it with hot water. When I started to unbutton his shirt, Holt smirked.

“If you wanted me to take my clothes off, you could have just asked,” he teased.

The venomous look I shot his way shut him up fairly quickly, and soon he was bare-chested.

The cuts weren’t as bad as I’d originally thought, but I also discovered a long set of thin, deep gashes on his stomach. Holt looked at the floor, seeming almost… ashamed. I soaked a rag in the water and started to sponge off the excess blood. He hissed at the sting. I didn’t even need to ask for an explanation, only give him a look that demanded one. 

“There were three other guys in the place I was staying in for the night.” _Squatting again, Holt? Really?_ I thought. “Apparently they’d ‘claimed’ the place,” he said with a sneer. “One of them had a knife. They attacked, I fought back, I ran.” He touched the cuts on his stomach and winced. “Finally lost them by jumping a fence. Didn’t see the barbed wire until I was already at the top.”

I sighed and rinsed the rag, sending a cloud of pink into the porcelain bowl. “I wish you would be more careful…” I said softly. The bleeding had mostly stopped by now. “I keep telling you that you should go to a shelter-“

“And live by _another_ set of rules?” Holt scoffed. “No way.” 

I glared at him and scrubbed particularly hard at his skin, causing him to yelp. “Look, Mr. I-don’t-need-anyone’s-help,” I growled, “you need to realize that you’re not invincible. You can’t live your life without relying at least partially on someone else. It’s impossible."

Holt frowned. “I have you… that’s all I need.” 

I almost pushed him into the tub, but remained calm and continued cleaning the cuts. “You need more help than I can give you. Maybe not now, but soon. Because I’m not always going to be here. And you can’t keep sneaking through my window in the middle of the night.” 

No one spoke.

I put down the rag and rinsed the wounds with antiseptic. Holt stuck his fist in his mouth to keep from crying out at the burn. No need to wake up my flatmate and arouse unneeded questions. Slowly, I wound long rolls of gauze - that I’d bought from the downtown medical supplies store specifically for this purpose - around Holt’s middle and shoulder. He was unusually quiet as I did so. It unnerved me. 

I looked at him, turning his face towards mine. “I know you chose the streets for your own good. And I will always be supportive of you. But please… try and take care of yourself.” 

His brow furrowed. “I… _am_ taking care of myself.” 

“I know that you get enough food and sleep and whatever, but… I mean the rest.” I cupped his stubbly cheek in my soft palm. “No more… well, not so much running or fighting… no more climbing barbed wire fences.” We both smiled. “But really. I care about you too much for it to be easy to sleep at night, knowing you could be out there getting hurt.” 

He frowned. “You and I both know being a street rat means danger. But I have nowhere else to go!” 

I flinched at the harsh nickname. Even he used it, but I couldn’t help but think of dirty, nasty vermin, unwanted and forced to run to the most undesirable places for some semblance of temporary safety. That wasn’t what Holt was. He was hot-headed and stubborn, quick to anger, and had a highly evolved hatred for nearly every form of authority. But, he was anything but unwanted. I sighed and finished dressing the wounds. 

“Holt…” I started, fumbling for the right words to do justice to what I felt. “I need you to understand that you can’t spend the rest of your life running. One day, something is going to catch you. And maybe… I won’t be able to help you.” 

Holt’s frown deepened, and he jerked his arm away. He started to dress again. “I don’t need you to tell me everything that I already know, Kaiah. Don’t you think I spend every day fearing that that day will come sooner than I’m ready for it?”

I looked at my hands. “I’m sorry… I’m just so scared to lose you.” 

That made him pause, shirt half done-up. “Afraid…” he murmured, “to lose… me?”

My heart jumped. _Did I say that out loud?_

Holt turned to me, the bathroom light giving a slight golden halo to his dirty red hair. He looked like the sculpture “David”, but different in ways that made him my own, living, warm, sort-of Freedom Fighter. That’s all he really wanted: freedom from rules and high expectations.

I blushed, wringing my shirt in my hands. “Well… yes,” I gulped. “I am afraid to lose you. We’ve been as close as siblings since we were little kids and… I…”

Holt glided towards me, his strong, calloused fingers resting under my jawbone and lifting my face into the light. Even in shadow, his eyes were impossibly bright for being so dark. My own, though vivid, could never match up. I took a deep breath, trying to keep a level head while Holt looked into my heart through bright green windows.

“I… I wouldn’t know what to do… if you-” I cut off that thought, not wanting to think about the devastating possibilities. “You keep me grounded… a-and calm… and… and… .” 

Nope, thought process derailed. Switching to mental shutdown.

I could feel the heat radiating off of him as we drew impossibly closer. My eyes drifted shut, my heart slowing to a languid pace. Holt’s lips were chapped and dry, yet they felt like heaven when he kissed me.


End file.
